Last call for British pubs? Ailing alehouses closing

Mar. 8, 2013
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Ed Harper, landlord at the Gorringe Park pub in south London, has installed a "boutique movie room," restaurant and private dining room. But he says the essence of a traditional local pub remains the friendly atmosphere of a "home away from home." / Naomi Westland

by Naomi Westland, Special for USA TODAY

by Naomi Westland, Special for USA TODAY

LONDON -- With its comfy sofas, open fires, choice of beers on tap and clutch of regulars propping up the bar catching up on the local gossip, the Eagle pub in Battersea is as traditional an alehouse as they come.

"It's a focal part of the community," said Graham Hill, 65, a regular of the Victorian pub. "People of all ages can meet here, and you're a friend, not just a customer. It would be a great loss if it were to close."

But regular pubgoers the length and breadth of the country are facing just that, as the Great British pub is forced out by modern life and financial troubles. As a result, names like the King's Head, the White Hart and the Old Red Lion could be names soon consigned to history books rather than British high streets and village greens.

"What has always fascinated me is that when a shop closes there is sadness, but when a pub closes there is such an emotional reaction, people are outraged, even those who don't use the pub, because it is vital to a community's well-being," said John Longden, chief executive of Pub is the Hub, a scheme spearheaded by Prince Charles that helps landlords and local communities to revive ailing pubs.

Despite their storied history at the very heart of British society dating back to the Roman empire, many pubs haven't been able to withstand the effects of the economic crisis and the very modern phenomenon of cheap supermarket booze, often sold at prices six times lower than in the pub.

"Some supermarkets are selling beer for cheaper than water," explained Tony Jerome, a spokesman for the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) which promotes community pubs, and traditional, unfiltered, unpasteurized beer. "You can pick up a 5% beer for 80 cents a can, the equivalent in a pub could be $5.50."

The locals, as pubs are known colloquially, are closing at a rate of 18 per week, according to the latest figures. Nearly 6,000 landlords having gone out of business in the past four years.

There appear to be several reasons for the vanishing pubs. Since 2008, the number of regular pubgoers in the U.K. has declined by 3 million. Costs have gone up, too. The tax on beer, known as the beer escalator, increases every year.

That has led to hard times for some pub owners, who to survive have sold out to large pub chains that rent the pubs back at supposed below-market rates, but require the pubs to buy all their products â?? from beer down to ketchup and potato chips â?? from that company.

The chains own thousands of pubs; more than half of all Britain's pubs are now owned by these pub companies or "pubcos."

The "tied" pubs as they are known say the pubcos have been raising costs for products and rents beyond what they can afford and above what untied pubs pay. And because they can't switch to cheaper suppliers to keep pace, they lose their customers.

The pubs claim that the pubcos are squeezing them to pay off enormous debts accrued to build their chains and survive the recession. Now it threatens to destroy a way of life going back centuries.

According to Paul Jennings, historian and author of The Local: A History of the British Pub, pub numbers reached a peak in 1869 and then began to decline.

"Until the late 19th century 'going to the pub' was the only evening leisure activity people had," he said. "But from the 1870s the popularity of organized sports, day trips and holidays, the music hall and then from around 1900 the cinema, all attracted working class spending.

"Also, living standards began to rise in the 1860s with higher wages and falling prices of food and clothing so their spending shifted from the traditional â?? drink â?? to more material goods."

The decline of tight-knit working class communities and male-dominated industries like mining, particularly from the 1970s, dealt pubs another blow. As pubs now vie for business with cafes, bars and restaurants serving food from around the world, there are signs of hope.

"Adapt or die" has long been the motto for business success and it holds as true for pubs as for any other industry. Realizing that the old model no longer works in many places, some publicans have diversified to offer the modern incarnation of the local pub, responding to what the surrounding community wants.

At the Gorringe Park pub on an otherwise unglamorous high street in Tooting in south London, new owners have completely refurbished a former dingy local to include a "boutique movie room" where they show feature films in the evenings and in the daytime for parents and children. There is also an upstairs restaurant and a private dining room, while the ground floor remains a pub in the more traditional sense.

"This is the modern incarnation of the local pub," explained Ed Harper, manager at the Gorringe Park. "It's what a local pub should be, relaxed and friendly, like a home away from home but able to respond to the ever changing needs of the market."

Others London publicans riding this wave now sell clothes, secondhand books, fruit and vegetables, run fish and chip shops, or host week-day activities for children, using social media to spread the word.

"There is a tidal wave of change in rural and urban communities with the closure of hundreds of services â?? bookshops, garages, grocery shops, post offices," Longden said.

The key to success is providing services the community wants, he said.

Pub landlords in the countryside have been opening post offices, village shops, libraries and theaters on their premises. Some run fitness classes, one has turned some land into allotments for the community to use. Some villages have even banded together to take over village pubs as a collective, perhaps spurred on by reports that having a well-run pub in the village can increase housing prices by 10 percent.

The figures for pub closures may look grim, but there might be life in the Old Red Lion yet, as many hope.

"The Great British pub is part of our history and heritage and also part to our way of life," said Greg Mulholland, a parliamentarian campaigning to save local pubs.

"The pub is unique in being an informal place where people can come together â?? locals and strangers â?? to chat and have a drink. It is a very important part of British society."